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Federal Judge Strives to Expedite Thousands of Mesh Injury Lawsuits

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Vaginal Mesh MDL CourthoseU.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, who is tasked with overseeing seven separate multi-district litigation (MDL) cases, recently issued a pre-trial order describing the unprecedented inundation of civil filings – and his proposed solution for the expeditious disposition of claims.

In his opening paragraphs, Judge Goodwin explained that he is currently responsible for handling over 60,000 unique civil lawsuits, including several involving transvaginal mesh injuries. He further explained that the number of cases awaiting attention on his docket is 12 times the number of civil cases heard by all U.S. District Courts last year – combined.

Judicial panel on multidistrict litigation

Judge Goodwin continued in his pretrial order by explaining some of the background policies underlying multidistrict litigation – which were enacted by Congress in the 1960’s following a spur of anti-trust cases filed involving electronics companies.

Goodwin outlined several mechanisms courts can use to avoid wasting judicial manpower and precious time, including:

  • Coordinating and scheduling pretrial orders, motions and conferences that pertain to common issues of underlying fact, thereby avoiding duplicitous considerations of the same issue;
  • Conducting national depositions with large numbers of plaintiffs’ and defendants’ counsel present;
  • Establishing a central document depository.

While Judge Goodwin remarked that these mechanisms are certainly helpful in the resolution of thousands of similar cases, he pointed out that at the time Congress convened this panel, it was facing a mere 2,000 antitrust cases, compared to the current onslaught of over 60,000.

Ideas to expedite the transvaginal mesh injury lawsuits

After a finding that transvaginal mesh manufacturer C.R. Bard has made “so little progress to date” in resolving these claims, Judge Goodwin has decided to streamline the process, thereby prompting counsel for both sides to adhere to strict deadlines, unwavering discovery procedures and mandatory deadlines for opposing parties to respond to requests for interrogatories and the like.

Thanks to Judge Goodwin’s organized approach to the litigation, parties for both sides are required to meet and decide upon the appropriate venue for the proceedings no later than September 15, 2014. From there, Judge Goodwin’s order states that should the parties decide to hold the proceedings in United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the transvaginal mesh lawsuits are to be considered “trial ready” immediately upon the conclusion of the discovery process.

Ongoing transvaginal mesh litigation

Tens of thousands of women across the United States are raising alarming allegations of product defects against nearly one-half dozen transvaginal mesh manufacturers. According to District Court data, the transvaginal mesh injury lawsuits awaiting resolution on the docket include not only those manufactured by C.R. Bard, but other brands including Ethicon, American Medical Systems, Boston Scientific, Coloplast, Cook Medical and Neomedic.

The cases have thus far progressed sporadically but continually, with several bellwether trials, pre-trial conferences and motions in limine already reaching a conclusion. However, with so many thousands of cases still awaiting settlement or judgment, the newly-ordered pretrial discovery schedule should help to not only expedite the outstanding claims, but bring peace of mind to many injured plaintiffs patiently awaiting a conclusion.


  1. United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Pretrial Order #131, http://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/MDL/2187/pdfs/PTO_131.pdf

  2. 13ABC.com, Transvaginal mesh lawsuits move forward in litigation with CR Bard, http://www.13abc.com/story/26339728/transvaginal-mesh-lawsuits-move-forward-in-federal-cr-bard-litigation-with-issuance-of-new-pretrial-order-bernstein-liebhard-llp-reports


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